Assaf is given what seems to be a straightforward task during his internship at the City Hall; to find the owner of a stray dog and give them a fine fAssaf is given what seems to be a straightforward task during his internship at the City Hall; to find the owner of a stray dog and give them a fine for allowing the dog to be loose. As the dog drags Assaf all over town, he meets different people who know the dog's owner and begins to get a picture of her (Tamar). Tamar, meanwhile, is on a planned mission to save someone she loves.

Despite the dog's speed, and the number of people encountered, I found Someone to Run With a bit slow. But the character development was great and Tamar is a wonderful hero, so I immediately handed the book to my pre-teen son. There are various themes addressed; love, family, independence, and coming of age set against some fairly scary backdrops relating to Tamar's disappearance and her mission. If I were a teenager, I think I would rate this higher....more

This is a fun allegorical story about a boy who helps his father regain the ability to tell stories. It's very over the top, but has some laugh out loThis is a fun allegorical story about a boy who helps his father regain the ability to tell stories. It's very over the top, but has some laugh out loud moments, some good morals, a happy ending, and is worth reading with your children....more

I would like to meet Karen Karbo. I would assume I would run into her in Sumptown coffee in Portland on a rainy Saturday morning and we would dish aboI would like to meet Karen Karbo. I would assume I would run into her in Sumptown coffee in Portland on a rainy Saturday morning and we would dish about all sorts of stuff and she would make me laugh. Her lighthearted take on Coco Chanel's life was really fun to read; not preachy as I expected and full of lots of color commentary. I've watched several Chanel movies and read various articles so I have the basic jist, but Karbo's take is witty, a little analytical, and well researched without being boring. She intersperses biography with various counterpoints (often cattily footnoted) and her personal search for a Chanel jacket which I admire. If you're looking for a more authentic traditional biography, this isn't it. I read the book in one day and found it very positive and uplifting. I especially appreciated how Karbo contrasted modern concepts of femininity, including some that I think are particularly northwestern, such as the reluctance to state an opinion or be controversial, with Coco Chanel's outspoken personna....more

I picked up Sydney in a bookstore in the Rocks, wanting to know more about the history of the town. The historical aspects of the book, especially inI picked up Sydney in a bookstore in the Rocks, wanting to know more about the history of the town. The historical aspects of the book, especially in the beginning, were very interesting. But Delia Falconer's writing style left me feeling exactly the way I felt when we landed in Sydney; exhausted, dizzy, confused, and feeling like things were fairly familiar but enough different that I had to really concentrate to understand what was being said. She writes in circles, mixing some history with personal stories, conjecture, and tons of references to Australian history and writers with whom I doubt non-Australians would be familiar (lots of name-dropping; almost like going to someone else's high school reunion). And so instead of being illuminating, this book is very cryptic and becomes even more so as it becomes less of a history and more of a personal assertion. I would have appreciated a better organizational structure so that there is context for the historical portions and also clarity in discussing the development of different neighborhoods, attitudes, and perceptions. Falconer recounts some vivid stories, and Sydney certainly has a haunting and dark history, but the stories are pieced together in such a patchwork way that it is very difficult to make any sense of them or to draw any true conclusions....more

Talmadge moves to Eastern Washington as a teenager with his mother and sister, following the death of his father, and settles in a valley, where theyTalmadge moves to Eastern Washington as a teenager with his mother and sister, following the death of his father, and settles in a valley, where they begin a fruit orchard. Shortly, his mother dies, and subsequently his sister vanishes. Although Talmadge and others search for her, she is never found. Fast forward to Talmadge as an older man; the orchard is now significantly developed. He lives a simple life with few friends, notably an older woman with whom he has a platonic relationship. One day, while selling fruit, two pregnant teenage girls see Talmadge and steal something to eat from him. He lets them, and later they follow him to the orchard. They climb trees and watch Talmadge but do not directly approach him. Talmadge is aware of them as well, and leaves them food and sets up a place for them to live on the orchard. The girls, Della and Jane, have escaped a brothel and are being hunted by the man who considers them his property.

The Orchardist is a slow-paced novel with beautiful character descriptions. The story is told not so much in dialogue but in descriptions of actions and thoughts that occur to characters but are unspoken. You can feel the weight of Carolyn Middey pulling herself onto the train, or the stench of Della after she has been riding. The opening description of Talmadge's face is particularly beautiful, even thought what it describes is not. For people who live in Washington or have some experience in the area, the descriptions (of Lake Chelan, for example) are probably even more vivid than for people who are not from here, but regardless the Orchardist is a beautiful read....more

I wasn't expecting to like this. I'm not really a fan of mysteries and I haven't read any other PD James. However I really enjoy Jane Austen and PrideI wasn't expecting to like this. I'm not really a fan of mysteries and I haven't read any other PD James. However I really enjoy Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice. And I typically cannot stand historical fiction rife with anachronisms, or prequels/sequels of almost any type that aren't by the original author.

But I enjoyed this. I appreciated PD James efforts to ascribe motive to Darcy and Elizabeth and draw more out of their characters. I also appreciated the nods to the original version linguistically. Yes, the voice is different, but if PD James had tried to write as Jane Austen I think the book would have been a huge failure. Towards the end the book plods a bit and there are things that are predictable but it was very enjoyable....more

This Sedaris compilation of short stories is probably more of a 2.5 to me, but I rounded up. It starts out strong and there are some fabulously laugh-This Sedaris compilation of short stories is probably more of a 2.5 to me, but I rounded up. It starts out strong and there are some fabulously laugh-out-loud funny stories (the one about China in contrast to Japan is notable), but there are also some snoozers. The three that are written to be read aloud in Forensics challenges are fabulous; the middle-aged woman would receive five stars from me. So for those few alone I'd recommend reading this book. It's a quick read, typically very engaging, and also with some poignant moments. Definitely good airplane material....more

This is a tiny little gem of a book that I picked up in preparation for a trip to Santiago and carried in my purse for over a month. The poems are inThis is a tiny little gem of a book that I picked up in preparation for a trip to Santiago and carried in my purse for over a month. The poems are in Spanish on the left side of the page and English on the right, so it was also helpful in reacclimating to Spanish before the journey. The imagery is beautiful and they are accompanied by lovely pen and ink drawings. ...more

At first, I was completely in love with this book and would have rated it a 5, telling all of my friends about it and wanting to bring it home to meetAt first, I was completely in love with this book and would have rated it a 5, telling all of my friends about it and wanting to bring it home to meet my parents. But as time goes on, it is grating on me and I'm finding it preachy and almost impossible to finish, which is weird because once I start a relationship with a book I have to stay with it to the end. But today I cheated on it with Pablo Neruda's 20 love poems and a song of despair and I feel fulfilled and not at all guilty.

Daniel Stein, Interpreter is a story about the Holocaust told through the correspondence and lectures of various survivors whose stories are intertwined. It starts with an interesting coincidence (two women meet at a party and realize their survival tale is intertwined) then transitions to a discussion on religion, mostly about the main character, Daniel Stein, who is born Jewish but makes it through the holocaust pretending that he is not, but saving Jews when he has he opportunity, and then subsequently becoming a Catholic monk in Israel. I found that interesting and even potentially plausible (it is based on a true story, I believe). But Ludmilla Ulitskaya weaves so many characters, dropping some suddenly, picking up others, and using their correspondence to discuss the lack of support for religions other than Judiasm in Israel, that it becomes far too preachy. About 1/3 of the way through the book, I suddenly thought "hey, is this a big treatise on Jews for Jesus?" and it reminded me of the time that I sent my great aunt a Hanukkah card that seemed innocuous and pretty (it had Hebrew letters painted in watercolor and a menorah) only to find out through my mother that the card was actually Jews for Jesus and my great aunt was really offended. And I felt terrible, which is what you get for sending a card in a language you can't read. But I digress, a little.

The points made about the common origins of Islam, Christianity, and Judiasm, are very interesting, and the intellectual approach to being able to merge or support multiple viewpoints are, of course, attractive (why can't we all just get along?) but I fail to see why this results repeatedly in characters repudiating Judiasm or seeking Christ as their savior. And yes, Jews were ostracized and the point is made that in Israel they ostracize others. Essentially, Israel as a microcosm of the world.

In the last 100 or so pages it brings some of these stories together and comes to some level of closure, so there is merit to sticking with it....more

An Iraqi war hero, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and Beyonce are not my recipe for an engaging story, but clearly I need some cooking lessons.

BillyAn Iraqi war hero, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, and Beyonce are not my recipe for an engaging story, but clearly I need some cooking lessons.

Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk is a rapidly engaging story about a 19 year old returning on a promotional tour from Iraq as a war hero and the people he and his Bravo Platoon meet, focusing on Thanksgiving weekend, an all-too-brief trip home, and a feature in a halftime show at Texas stadium. Ben Fountain is a master with dialogue. He uses conversations to fully develop his characters, and his voice is very fresh and distinct. His observations and descriptions of people, from Billy's perspective, are also amazing and show a command of a breadth of situations and experiences.

Here is an example:"He imagines a shadowy, math-based parallel world that exists not just beside but amid the physical world, a transparent interplay of Matrix-style numbers through which the flesh-and-blood humans move like fish through kelp. This is where the money lives, an integer-based realm of code and logic, geometric modules of cause and effect. The realm of markets, contracts, transactions, elegant vectors of fiber-optic agency whereby mind-boggling sums of mysterious wealth shoot around the world on beams of light. It seems the airiest thing there is and yet the realest, but how you enter that world he has no idea except by passage through that other foreign country called college, and that ain't happening."

The book reads quickly. I could not wait to get back to it and am looking forward to reading more from Ben Fountain....more

I've been wondering lately if my standards are too low, because I seem to be loving every book I read and giving them pretty high ratings. Well, I donI've been wondering lately if my standards are too low, because I seem to be loving every book I read and giving them pretty high ratings. Well, I don't have to wonder anymore.

I heard about Truth Like the Sun when it first came out and was really looking forward to reading this story set in the Seattle Worlds Fair and also 2001. But the thing about historical fiction is that in order for it to work, either the historical part has to be so well researched that it leaves you wanting to learn more, or the fiction has to be really compelling. Truth Like the Sun has neither.

Roger Morgan is a young up and comer who runs and promotes the fair, and 40 or so years later decides to run for mayor. Helen is a reporter for the Seattle P-I, single mother, and trying to expose the truth about Roger, I guess. Jim Lynch writes like someone who has no experience in Seattle. His descriptions of both characters and their time periods and locations are inadequately, generically described and use stilted, awkward dialogue. All characters become some weird caricatures of...I don't know what, but it isn't Seattle (or Youngstown, Ohio, where Helen is from). Sort of a cross between Barney Miller and Lou Grant and maybe that movie Cocoon where the old people are abducted by the UFO. Luckily the book is short and only took a day or so to read, and I didn't have much going on anyway, otherwise I'd go find Jim Lynch and ask him for my money and my time back....more

What do you do if your husband of 15 years, brilliant, bi-polar, verbally abusive, and not much of a financial contributor decides to leave you for aWhat do you do if your husband of 15 years, brilliant, bi-polar, verbally abusive, and not much of a financial contributor decides to leave you for a guy named Bob that he met on gay.com? If you're Rhoda Janzen, you return to the warm borscht-laden arms of your Mennonite parents for some perspective and spiritual renewal. Mennonite in a LBD is a humorous memoir of the collapse of Rhoda's modern marriage juxtaposed against the uplifting and positive disposition of her mom, sister, and friends. A quick read, there are very funny stories, mostly about Rhoda's family, which will resonate with anyone but based are on her Mennonite upbringing.

The memoir has some glitches. Rhoda could have told a very amusing story about growing up "Menno" or a poignant story about her marriage falling apart and how that related to her upbringing and culture. At times, it seemed as if she wasn't sure which way to go and ended up vacillating back and forth a bit too much. At one point, the story gets a little too introspective and preachy, to the detriment of readability. But in general, it is a really quick, fun and entertaining story, ...more

The Night Circus is a fantastical novel set at the late 1800s/early 1900s. Celia Bowen, aged 6, is sent to live with her father, Hector (aka Prospero The Night Circus is a fantastical novel set at the late 1800s/early 1900s. Celia Bowen, aged 6, is sent to live with her father, Hector (aka Prospero the Enchanter, a magician) after her mother's suicide. She has certain "gifts" and her father trains her and subsequently binds her in a competition with the student of his nemesis. Marco is a orphan chosen by Alexander, Hector's nemesis, at random and also trained for the competition. The Night Circus becomes the setting and stage for this mystical and magical competition. But the rules of the competition are not explained to Celia or Marco.

I am not sure if I loved or just endured this book. The pace is very slow and deliberate. There is a lot of development of the environment, the clothes, the circus, and the illusions being performed but the characters seemed fairly one dimensional and predictable. Erin Morgenstern describes, in tremendous detail, very involved circus tents that each house extremely elaborate and amazing illusions. The creativity behind each tent and the experience of the individuals at the circus (or reveurs, as the biggest fans are called) is very vivid and impressive. But Celia in particular reminded me of any turn of the century heroine, and the love affair with Marco was predictable and unremarkable (save the magical special effects). The ending was a bit over the top, a combination of deus et machina (which is weird in such a period fantasy), Wizard of Oz, Edward Gory, and shades of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The Night Circus would make a really stunning movie with spectacular CGI effects. It could star Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson had they not already made a circus movie together or both been in predictable period pieces. It would have been a great pop-up book. It also could have been about 200 pages shorter without losing much....more

Violet Parry, retired screen writer, mother of Dot, and wife to David Parry, music industry scion, is having a midlife crisis. She's 42, gained weightViolet Parry, retired screen writer, mother of Dot, and wife to David Parry, music industry scion, is having a midlife crisis. She's 42, gained weight during the pregnancy, and seems to be the constant object of David's ridicule. Despite being fabulously wealthy, living in a gorgeous home, and having help to raise Dot, she seems incapable of basic daily tasks (making breakfast, getting someone to fish a dead rodent out of the hot tub). This One is Mine tells the story of Violet's random attraction to a recovering addict and how she almost lets that folly ruin her life.

The characters Maria Semple creates are, in her words, strong women bent on self destruction. Maybe this is why her books resonate so well. She writes clearly and her characters show her years of TV writing experience (in a good way) - they are plausible, well formed, and distinct. One of the biggest pleasures of this book for me was Violet's vocabulary. Use of the words arriviste, jeremiad, badinage, dudgeon, lagniappes, and ranunculus caused me to start a vocabulary list to work on with my son. Meanwhile Teddy, the recovering addict, speaks in a very real street jargon with distinct rhythm. As Semple's first novel, this is very impressive....more

I'm finding it difficult to rate this book since it took me an agonizing 2.5 years to read. Some of that time I was recovering from a head injury andI'm finding it difficult to rate this book since it took me an agonizing 2.5 years to read. Some of that time I was recovering from a head injury and reading on my kindle was difficult. But that's not all. I appreciated Christopher Moore's ability to research Impressionism and create a fictional story using attributes from real people. But I'm feeling that the prose in this novel just doesn't have the laugh out loud moments that his others have. It's almost like when your toddler learns a knock-knock joke for the first time and you have to pretend that "Orange you glad I didn't say banana?" is hysterical even when you hear it for the billionth time. The sex jokes aren't funny anymore and this just was too repetitive for me.

What I did enjoy, though, was the epilogue about how he's ruined Impressionism, where he describes the historical derivation of different scenes and characters. I'll always appreciate decent research so I've given it a 3 and not a 2. ...more

From reading State of Wonder I got the distinct impression that Ann Patchett has some serious daddy issues. The main character, Marina Singh, who dropFrom reading State of Wonder I got the distinct impression that Ann Patchett has some serious daddy issues. The main character, Marina Singh, who dropped out of her Ob/Gyn residency and became a pharmacologist, is dating the CEO of the company. There is a substantial age gap between them and she refers to him as "Mr. Fox" for about 80% of the book. In prepping for a trip to the Brazilian rainforest to confront her former preceptor, Dr. Annick Swenson, regarding the death of her lab partner, Anders Eckman, Marina takes Larium (anti-malarial) and is haunted by nightmares of losing her father.

While I recall being enthralled with Bel Canto, State of Wonder didn't have the same impact for me. I struggled to have any affinity for the characters, including the Bovenders (Barbara Bovender, 23, is referred to as "Mrs." - ok not a daddy issue but not sure why the formality). The Bovenders are also referred to as bohemian, but seem to be trust fund babies. The book reads quickly, though, and once Marina is connected to Dr. Swenson the pace picks up substantially and the story starts to take form. The end was definitely worth it, and the writing was quite clear and vivid.

"Where'd you go, Bernadette?" is a spot-on must read satire of life in Seattle for anyone who lives within 25 miles of Microsoft, with one small adjus"Where'd you go, Bernadette?" is a spot-on must read satire of life in Seattle for anyone who lives within 25 miles of Microsoft, with one small adjustment (it's not the Idaho drivers, but the Oregon drivers, who really freak you out). Bernadette Fox is the reclusive transplant (east coaster by way of California) who with her Microsoft millionaire husband buys a huge tract of Queen Anne land for $400k (as if this would exist) including a former home/school for girls and lives there with her daughter, Bee, intending to remodel. Instead, the property is overgrown by blackberries, leaking, and falling apart around them.

What is right about this book:1. Overly involved parents.2. Kale3. Blackberries and blackberry removal.4. Bad driving5. The Microsoft Connector6. Wild Ginger7. Lack of fashion sense8. Lack of hair dye9. How all of this, plus the weather, can make you want to outsource your entire life to an assistant in India

What wasn't included:1. How you can tell someone works at Microsoft by their jeans with dress shoes uniform.2. REI parking lot phenomenon (parking spots too narrow for anything but the obligatory Subaru legacy station wagon).

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is a masterpiece of fiction that weaves various stories around the suddenly broken relationship of Toru Okada and his wife,The Wind-up Bird Chronicle is a masterpiece of fiction that weaves various stories around the suddenly broken relationship of Toru Okada and his wife, Kumiko. The actual story is of less importance than Murakami's ability to intertwine themes, mysteries, and images into Toru's search for Kumiko (and their cat, Noboru Wataya). Murakami writes like masters paint; layered imagery and impressions. His ability to create a fictional piece that weaves through different layers of dream-like states is incomparable.

I found myself underlining various part of this novel, but one that encapsulates the book itself is below.

I simply did as I was told. This reminded me of several so-called art films I had seen in college. Movies like that never explained what was going on. Explanations were rejected as some kind of evil that could only destroy the films' "reality." That was one way of thought, one way to look at things, no doubt, but it felt strange for me, as a real, live human being, to enter such a world.

The book is very long (over 600 pages). Almost every chapter could be a stand-alone short story. The characters are written so clearly and compellingly that you find yourself completely drawn into their world which makes the novel, although it is full of mysticism, seem so real and plausible. Because of the level of artistry, this is one of the best books I have ever read....more

Mr. Peanut sat on my nightstand for over a year, only to be devoured in less than 48 hours. Why didn't I realize you were there when I was slogging thMr. Peanut sat on my nightstand for over a year, only to be devoured in less than 48 hours. Why didn't I realize you were there when I was slogging through less interesting prose? Maybe it was the cover; mine is newer and has the little peanut inside the skull. A hint of darkness, but not clear what or why. Slightly intimidating, not sure I was ready to take it on.

It turns out that Mr. Peanut is the darkness in all of us. The jaunty little fellow with the top hat and the cane who beckons both innocently and evilly from the peanut jar (eat me, I taste good... forget about the salt and the fat). The love/hate dichotomy that confuses us all no matter how strong our relationships are. The self destructive behavior that keeps us from our goals. And the blame we place on others when we fail.

So if this is sitting on your bookshelf, definitely crack it open. It's waiting for you....more

The imagery of After Dark is striking. Like other Murakami novels, there is an other worldliness that is intriguing and somewhat off-putting, but grouThe imagery of After Dark is striking. Like other Murakami novels, there is an other worldliness that is intriguing and somewhat off-putting, but grounded in such clear description that it feels plausible and real. The description of places, scenes, and vantage points outshine the dialogue in what is a series of interwoven vignettes. In some novels, you feel as if you can visualize the screenplay; you start casting characters and identifying scenes. After Dark has the opposite effect where you feel as if a book has been made of a film, or maybe of a performance art piece....more

What Alice Forgot is the story of Alice Love who faints during spin class, falls off the bike, and ends up with a concussion and amnesia that erases tWhat Alice Forgot is the story of Alice Love who faints during spin class, falls off the bike, and ends up with a concussion and amnesia that erases ten years from her life. "Young Alice" thinks it is 1998, she is married, and expecting her first child. Her life fast forward 10 years is full of pleasant and not so pleasant surprises of Alice as the supermom of three kids with a failing marriage. Transitioning between the viewpoints of Alice, her sister Elizabeth, and "grandmother" Franny, what Alice Forgot discusses love, loss, letting go, and starting over.

I really enjoyed this book. It's set in Sydney and has some Australian references. However I thought it was about a woman who had dementia, so the concussion part threw me a bit. It's an engaging and fast read. ...more

Other than one or maybe two funny parts, this book was excruciatingly painful. McEwan owes me for the time I spent reading it, because unlike the mainOther than one or maybe two funny parts, this book was excruciatingly painful. McEwan owes me for the time I spent reading it, because unlike the main character (who was divorced 7 or so times and had really no socially-redeeming value and whose every boring thought was catalogued in detail) I don't have the ability to just quit and walk away....more

It seems that the cool thing these days is to write stories that are from multiple perspectives, but A Visit from the Goon Squad takes that to extremeIt seems that the cool thing these days is to write stories that are from multiple perspectives, but A Visit from the Goon Squad takes that to extremes changing viewpoints every chapter and even throwing in one written entirely in PowerPoint so that it is a series of vignettes. Had the PowerPoint been animated so that the elements zoomed in from the sides on my kindle, maybe it would have been cool. Actually, the PowerPoint chapter was one of the more interesting ones. But otherwise this came across as very gimmicky and extremely difficult to follow. It was pulled together in the end but I can't say that the actual stories were all that exciting or worth the mental gymnastics of working through the entire thing....more

This cookbook changed my life (and unfortunately, my pants size, but that is temporary). A fabulous book with excellent, easy-to-follow recipes that wThis cookbook changed my life (and unfortunately, my pants size, but that is temporary). A fabulous book with excellent, easy-to-follow recipes that will have you baking like a pro in no time, the Miette Bakery Cookbook has excellent tips for cakes, Parisienne macaron (the reason I bought the book), ganache, butter creme, etc. The book starts with an introduction to technique, lists tools to be purchased, stores to source ingredients, and then presents recipes in a very step-by-step manner with beautiful pictures. Plus, the edges are scalloped which is really pretty. I can now make macaron in various flavors; have successfully made butter creme without it separating, and have a store of ganache. Plus, my family, co-workers, and my friends are really happy. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. ...more